Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a permanently or temporarily implantable device including a proximal end, a distal end, an elongate electrically conductive component arranged therebetween, and a contact pole. In embodiments of the invention, the contact pole is arranged in a region of the distal end of the device to electrically contact bodily tissue adjacent to the contact pole during operation of the implantable device, wherein the contact pole is electrically connected to the elongate electrically conductive component.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, implantable devices, for example electrode lines for electrostimulation, have the disadvantage that their electrical conductor, such as an elongate electrically conductive component, may heat up in an MRI scanner due to the alternating magnetic fields prevailing in the MRI scanner that induce electrical currents in the electrical conductor that are not insignificant. Therefore, cardiac pacemaker patients nowadays cannot generally be examined in an MRI scanner or may only be examined to a limited extent.
Specifically, at least one stimulation electrode line is typically connected to implantable cardiac pacemakers or defibrillators, and, at its proximal end, intended for connection to the cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator. The electrode line includes a standardized electrical terminal, and, at its distal end, intended for placement in the heart, the electrode line includes one or more electrode poles as contact poles for contacting bodily tissue. Such a contact pole, generally, is used to deliver electrical pulses to the tissue (myocardium) of the heart or to sense electrical fields in order to sense cardiac activity, generally known as sensing. For this purpose, contact poles typically form electrically conductive surface portions of an electrode line. Contact poles are typically provided as ring electrodes in the form of a ring around the electrode line or in the form of a point electrode or tip electrode at the distal end of the electrode line. The contact poles are generally electrically conductively connected via one or more electrical conductors to terminal contacts of the electrical terminal of the electrode line at the proximal end thereof. The respective electrical conductors typically form elongate electrically conductive components of the electrode line as an implantable device. One or more electrical conductors, which generally electrically connect one or more of the electrode poles to one or more of the contacts, typically run between the terminal contacts of the electrical terminal of the electrode lines at the proximal ends thereof and the electrode poles at the distal end of the electrode line. These electrical conductors, generally, may be used on one hand for transmission of stimulation pulses to the electrode poles and on the other hand for transmission of electrical signals, received by the electrode poles, to the proximal end of the electrode line, referred to herein as a function line. Such function lines, typically, are electrical conductors necessary for the functions of the respective electrode line and as such are exposed to the risk that electrical currents are induced therein as a result of external alternating magnetic fields. Generally, the currents, for example, may lead to an undesirable heating of the function lines or of the electrode poles connected thereto, or may lead to the delivery of corresponding currents via the electrode poles to surrounding tissue, and therefore to a heating of the surrounding tissue. In addition, there is the risk that the external fields lead to signal-falsifying interferences.